Prácticas de gobernanza en universidades confesionales en Colombia: un enfoque desde la junta directiva

Abstract

El futuro de la humanidad parece encontrarse hoy en un callejón sin salida, debido a múltiples factores entre los que destaco las enormes brechas económicas y culturales, el agotamiento del modelo de la sociedad de bienestar fundado en la depredación de los recursos naturales, el uso de la violencia como camino para resolver los conflictos y en fin, la ausencia de grandes ideales, sofocados por el consumismo y la proliferación de tecnologías que si bien resuelven problemas, también generan formas nuevas de dependencia y de manipulación. La educación está llamada a cambiar el rumbo de la civilización, siempre y cuando se funde en valores y se proyecte desde instituciones éticamente responsables y estructuralmente fluidas y transparentes, capaces de encarnar en sí mismas, los principios y escenarios deseables y pertinentes para sociedades incluyentes y participativas, en los que la dignidad del ser humano esté por encima de cualquier consideración. Conversar acerca de las universidades fundadas por la Iglesia católica y plantear cambios en su estructura de gobierno y de gestión, que les permita ser referentes de buenas prácticas, cumplir con mayor efectividad su cometido misional y ponerse a tono con las nuevas tendencias gerenciales y administrativas, será siempre un debate saludable y afín con la búsqueda del bien común.

The humanity lives today one of its most intense and decisive moments, product of centuries followed by technological development, economic growth and expansion of the frontiers of knowledge. However, the symptoms of the erosion of the model of society that we have built are becoming more and more evident, and this is confirmed, among others, in the crisis of values. That is perceived on a daily basis, in economic inequalities and access to better quality of life, in the deterioration of the environment and in the violence and intolerance that every day tests the security and stability of all countries, regardless of their development models, culture or government. In the debate on solutions, both international organizations in general, and communities in particular, there is always the need to review the current educational schemes and in particular higher education is assigned a decisive role in the formation of those present and future generations of professional workers, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, political and religious leaders, among others. But if the university, one of the most prestigious institutions of the last millennium, wants to fully fulfill its function, it needs an administrative and management structure that allows it to efficiently manage its human and material resources and show a business model outward transparent and ethically correct, that is convincing and that it serves as a laboratory and training field for generations of leaders who will take control in the future. The proposal of corporate governance that has made its way into modern business as a factor of better direction and control has shown its benefits applied to other areas and the purpose of this research is precisely to review the current management model of confessional universities in Colombia, that protected by the autonomy that the Political Constitution gives them and operating as non-profit foundations, do not finish adopting the proposals of modern administrative science and run the risk of maintaining management structures between authoritarian and permissive, with the consequent loss of opportunities to face a competitive market and achieve increasingly high quality standards, as required by the same public service condition they provide. It will be the application of a judicious case study methodology applied to a representative sample of catholic higher education institutions and the subsequent analysis of information, which will allow conclusions to be drawn that not only serve as a diagnosis about their governability, but at the same time open space for other research in the same line and propose improvement plans that allow their boards of directors to successfully complete the difficult task of representing the interests of the owners, accompany the management of the managerial staff and direct the institutions with social responsibility.